A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the manufacture of mass customized items, and more particularly to automated manufacturing processes of the same.
B. Description of the Related Art
Bar code symbol is a coded pattern of indicia comprising a series of adjacent bars and spaces of various widths. The bars and spaces have different light reflecting characteristics. A number of different bar code standards or symbologies exist. These symbologies include, for example, UPC/EAN, Code 128, Codabar, and Interleaved 2 of 5. The readers and scanning systems electro-optically decode each symbol to produce multiple alphanumerical characters that are intended to be descriptive of the article or some characteristic thereof. Such characters are typically represented in digital form as an input to a data processing system for applications in point-of-sale processing, inventory control, and the like.
Ordinary bar code is “vertically redundant”, meaning that the same information is repeated vertically. It is in fact a one-dimensional code. The heights of the bars can be truncated without any loss of information. However, the vertical redundancy allows a symbol with printing defects, such as spots or voids, to still be read. The higher the bar heights, the more probability that at least one path along the bar code will be readable. A two-dimensional (2D) code stores information along the height as well as the length of the symbol. Initially, two-dimensional symbologies were developed for applications where only a small amount of space was available for an automatic ID symbol. There are well over 20 different 2-D symbologies available today.
Another bar code symbology is three dimensional (3D) bar code. One type of 3D bar code is Bumpy Bar code (BBC) available from Mecco Partners LLC of Ingomar, Pa. BBC is any linear bar code symbology that has been marked on material to be read without the use of contrast. Typically bar codes are read by readers that detect the difference between the bars and the background by the amount of visual contrast (or black and white difference) between them. Bumpy Bar Codes are those marks that are created to utilize their relief or “bumpy” aspect to determine where the bars and spaces reside within the code. This technology allows a mark with zero-contrast (white bars and white spaces or black bars and black spaces) to be read without paint, ink or special lighting.
Although the Bumpy Bar Code reader can read traditional contrast labels, the patented geometry of the reader enables it to detect bumpy bar codes via their inherent “3-D” relief characteristics without the use of optical contrast. The reader illuminates the bar code from straight on while a CCD imager looks up at the bar code from a position offset from the laser. This offset geometric induces a form of static parallax (“the apparent difference in position of one object relative to another, caused by a change in observational position that provides a new line of sight”) enabling the imager to detect the laser line “riding” over the bumps of the mark.